National Defence committee  Thank you for the question. It's a very interesting question. Have we improved our rate of preparing forces? We understand the minimum training requirements to put people into harm's way in a modern combat environment, particularly on the ground in Afghanistan now but also in th

National Defence committee  Yes, they do.

National Defence committee  I will do so. Thank you, sir.

National Defence committee  Right, and the other way as well, sir.

National Defence committee  Thank you for the question. Yes, there is, although I wouldn't characterize it as a regiment. I would characterize it as a battle group, which is a flexible instrument that is structured to respond to the specific conditions on the ground. It is the army commander's responsibil

National Defence committee  Well, I can't tell you exactly what unit it is. I can take that on notice, if I can share that information, and pass that on.

National Defence committee  No. What I'm saying is that in terms of an immediate reaction to a large-scale military attack in the north, it needs to be held at a level of readiness that's consistent with our view of the threat. Now as you've pointed out, there are threats in many other areas that require a

National Defence committee  What I could say is that if I could not promise that I could meet each of those six, then I would make that clear to government, because that's my job. It's quite clear: we have those six missions and we must be able to respond to them. But there is a difference between respond

National Defence committee  Thank you very much for the question. In my opening remarks I actually said that we can't guarantee that we could respond to all six to the same extent we did in 2010. In fact, to prepare us to respond the way we did in 2010 took about two years of preparation. We stood up the o

National Defence committee  With regard to the level of readiness, I think we have areas that we need to continue to work on in the Canadian Forces. I think we're doing a good job of looking after ill and injured, but I think we can continue to improve with regard to looking after families. On the level of

National Defence committee  It's just as important, sir.

National Defence committee  Well, sir, first of all, how do I measure readiness? This has been a fairly challenging aspect of managing Canadian defence for some time. We have historically left it to the heads of the army, navy, and air force to measure their levels of readiness and to confirm that to the ce

National Defence committee  First of all, sir, I wouldn't want to speculate on an impending ministerial announcement—

National Defence committee  —but I would say that any evacuation mission depends upon the circumstances on the ground. It is far more expeditious, it is far cheaper, and frankly far less angst-ridden for Canadians to evacuate using commercial means. If aircraft are still flying and if vessels are still goin

National Defence committee  Capacity limits mean, for example, that we have only so many aircraft. We have only so many C-17s, only so many Airbus or so many Hercules aircraft, etc. But in terms of a full-fledged evacuation, I think we're well positioned to contribute to what invariably would be an effort